I had a co worker get pulled over for speeding and got a ticket, but he also got a ticket for an led light bar on his front bumper being uncovered. I have pics of the ticket and can post them, but no regulation or ordinance was cited. But on the official case paperwork it said 'equip in violation of dps stds'.

I can't find anything about being covered, all I can find are Texas laws on utility lights and no more than 4 forward facing light's, and they list as auxiliary driving lights. If they aren't on while driving on a road (as most state for off road use only) is that legal?

Sorry if this has been posted already, I didn't see anything on this subject.

I haven't worked the road since the led light bars got popular but the section you mentioned (greater than 4 on) and possibly a fail to dim situation (also obviously on) would have been all I would have had back then.

Truly based on the citation you stated they had of "equip not meeting dps standards) I would tell you my gut tells me that doesn't even sound like normal traffic code, it sounds more like the fed regs for commercial vehicles.

Again, I didn't have to deal with the led light bars but without it being on I can't see an issue, fwiw, and that's from me being a trooper

Sounds weird. In the parking lot at work right now, there are two JKUs and a Tundra with so many LED light bars and pods on them that just one of 'em could light up Yankee Stadium. None of their owners have received tickets.

What kind of vehicle does your co-worker have?

Sec. 547.330. AUXILIARY DRIVING LAMPS PERMITTED.
(a) A motor vehicle may be equipped with no more than two auxiliary driving lamps.
(b) An auxiliary driving lamp shall be mounted on the front of the vehicle at a height from 16 to 42 inches.
(c) Auxiliary driving lamps may be used with headlamps as specified by Section 547.333.

I'm not aware of any law requiring the covering of lamps. Tell them to fight it.

Govt telling people how many lights you can have on YOUR property.

BigRobSA said:

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Govt telling people how many lights you can have on YOUR property.

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To be fair, HIS property was on a PUBLIC roadway. *******s that run LED light bars on road should be hung up by their nuts.


And the code states where lights must be when illuminated. if you run them off-road only, then it doesn't matter where they are located on the vehicle.

I remember reading this was the reason jeep put light covers on the renegade edition liberty.

Never heard of it being enforced. Is your coworker a jerk?

robertf03 said:

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I remember reading this was the reason jeep put light covers on the renegade edition liberty.

Never heard of it being enforced. Is your coworker a jerk?

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Other states require the covering of aux lights when on-road. Vehicle manufacturers go to the furthest extreme they have to for all vehicles for ease of manufacture.

I support light covers, who could argue with the below?

The Wonderer said:

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BigRobSA said:

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Govt telling people how many lights you can have on YOUR property.

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To be fair, HIS property was on a PUBLIC roadway. *******s that run LED light bars on road should be hung up by their nuts.


And the code states where lights must be when illuminated. if you run them off-road only, then it doesn't matter where they are located on the vehicle.

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If he didn't have them lit, what does it matter if they're covered or not.

Just more moneygrab BS by law enforcement and the Legislature.

BigRobSA said:

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The Wonderer said:

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BigRobSA said:

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Govt telling people how many lights you can have on YOUR property.

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To be fair, HIS property was on a PUBLIC roadway. *******s that run LED light bars on road should be hung up by their nuts.


And the code states where lights must be when illuminated. if you run them off-road only, then it doesn't matter where they are located on the vehicle.

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If he didn't have them lit, what does it matter if they're covered or not.

Just more moneygrab BS by law enforcement and the Legislature.

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In Texas, it doesn't. Other states do mandate that aux lights be covered when on-road.

I've heard an officer state that lights that are mounted higher than your head lights have to be covered. no specific reg cited.

Then any state budget shortfall could be patched in one day of policing I-35 in Williamson County. Seems like errbody has (Chinese) light bars on their 4x4 trucks and Jeeps.

There's some reality show called 'Live PD' or some such on sat TV. I have seen a total of 2 mins of it while channel surfing the other night because I saw the byline 'Mission TX'. In that time a Mission PD unit pulled over a bro dozer that had 11venty billion undercarriage lights on and chose to write the guy up because of a roof mounted LED bar that was off but uncovered. I had never heard of that law before in TX. No doubt the truck and its driver were annoying - but it struck me the officer was pulling him over to make a contact.

They were all wearing coats and getting rained on. Mission is 50 mi away so I walked outside, and into a hot, dry, starlit night - the same weather we've had since January. I decided that Live PD was a waste of bandwidth and certainly not LIVE; so I resumed channel surfing.

The Wonderer said:

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Sec. 547.330. AUXILIARY DRIVING LAMPS PERMITTED.
(a) A motor vehicle may be equipped with no more than two auxiliary driving lamps.
(b) An auxiliary driving lamp shall be mounted on the front of the vehicle at a height from 16 to 42 inches.
(c) Auxiliary driving lamps may be used with headlamps as specified by Section 547.333.

I'm not aware of any law requiring the covering of lamps. Tell them to fight it.

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Maybe they consider each LED light a separate light. So one light bar would be like 50 auxiliary lights. It's a stretch I know.

A misdemeanor cop in a felony world.

I.e. fOGLAMPS. Which can be used while driving on road, not off-road lights, which can't be. The issue is the wording equipped. That would make any off-road driving lights illegal with that dumb interpretation.

MouthBQ98 said:

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I.e. fOGLAMPS. Which can be used while driving on road, not off-road lights, which can't be. The issue is the wording equipped. That would make any off-road driving lights illegal with that dumb interpretation.

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I'm pretty sure that's always been the case, but no one enforces it. How many of us actually have a front plate?

A ****load of work goes into lens design to keep from blinding other drivers. Chinese led bars don't have any of that

Which is why you only drive with fog lamps and headlights on when on the road. That doesn't mean you can't mount off-road driving lights that you then only use off-road. I have some LED lights on my Nissan that I use for night driving off-road only. Does this officer think I sound take them off every time I get back to a public road?

MouthBQ98 said:

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I.e. fOGLAMPS. Which can be used while driving on road, not off-road lights, which can't be. The issue is the wording equipped. That would make any off-road driving lights illegal with that dumb interpretation.

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What are you referring to?

The law is referring to two headlights, and two driving lights, AKA fog lamps. A total of four lights, that can be used while driving on public roads.

It is ludicrous to conflate having fog lamps with having off-road driving lights mounted, but then only ever used for off-road driving. They aren't going over the 4 max total lights allowed for use on the streets as headlights or fog lamps. If they had their light bar on when driving down a road, that is one thing, but if it was off, why is the officer making such a distortion of the intent of the law to harass them?

I mean, most cars these days have 2 low beam lights, 2 high beam lights, and two fog lamps mounted, for a total of six, from the factory. Using the officer's strict interpretation, all of those factory vehicles exceed 4 forward lights and are in violation.

MouthBQ98 said:

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The law is referring to two headlights, and two driving lights, AKA fog lamps. A total of four lights, that can be used while driving on public roads.

It is ludicrous to conflate having fog lamps with having off-road driving lights mounted, but then only ever used for off-road driving. They aren't going over the 4 max total lights allowed for use on the streets as headlights or fog lamps. If they had their light bar on when driving down a road, that is one thing, but if it was off, why is the officer making such a distortion of the intent of the law to harass them?

I mean, most cars these days have 2 low beam lights, 2 high beam lights, and two fog lamps mounted, for a total of six, from the factory. Using the officer's strict interpretation, all of those factory vehicles exceed 4 forward lights and are in violation.

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Probably because he wanted a reason to conduct a pretextual stop. It is my understanding of the application of the law that it applies to illuminated lights.


As to the hi/low/fog equaling six, nearly every newer model car I can think of turns the fogs off when the hi beams are activated.

Hes not a jerk, but he did go to TCU.. so.. maybe the same?

I asked him if he could ask for a regulation citing what he got ticketed for, just so he could say he is being sure he is compliant, but not sure he will. The judge said if he covers it she will drop it... sounds iffy as !@#$.

Short of someone turning it on while on a road, it just seems arbitrary and capricious to enforce that and not have a clearly defined statute. I think this thread and the amount of debate it generated makes it pretty dang clear how ambiguous the law is.

Yeah, the low beams go out when the highs come on, but the story is that he didn't have the off road lights illuminated, just physically mounted to the vehicle. Seems like BS to me.

MouthBQ98 said:

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Yeah, the low beams go out when the highs come on, but the story is that he didn't have the off road lights illuminated, just physically mounted to the vehicle. Seems like BS to me.

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I cannot find anything in the Texas Transportation Code that states that aux lights must be covered.

There was a law passed not long ago requiring them to be covered while on-road. Don't remember specifics, but there were people freaking out on the Brazos Valley Jeeps page on Facebook. One of the members is an LEO and said that his department's policy was to let it slide unless they were looking for a reason to pull someone over. Obviously, different PDs will enforce as they see fit.

Is it just a local ordinance, or is it part of the state code?

The officer and judge are full of crap: See below, 547.327
If the lights are wired in to turn on with the low beam headlights, they are auxiliary driving lamps.
If they are wired to be operated separately, they are spot lamps.

This is very easy to deduce from below. I also see ZERO requirement in the statutes to cover spot lamps when not in use.


Sec. 547.327. SPOTLAMPS PERMITTED. (a) A motor vehicle may be equipped with not more than two spotlamps.
(b) A spotlamp shall be aimed so that no part of the high-intensity portion of the beam strikes the windshield, window, mirror, or occupant of another vehicle in use.

Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.

Sec. 547.328. FOG LAMPS PERMITTED. (a) A motor vehicle may be equipped with not more than two fog lamps.
(b) A fog lamp shall be:
(1) mounted on the front of the vehicle at a height from 12 to 30 inches; and
(2) aimed so that no part of the high-intensity portion of the beam from a lamp mounted to the left of center on a vehicle projects a beam of light at a distance of 25 feet that is higher than four inches below the level of the center of the lamp.
(c) Lighted fog lamps may be used with lower headlamp beams as specified by Section 547.333.


Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.

Sec. 547.330. AUXILIARY DRIVING LAMPS PERMITTED. (a) A motor vehicle may be equipped with no more than two auxiliary driving lamps.
(b) An auxiliary driving lamp shall be mounted on the front of the vehicle at a height from 16 to 42 inches.
(c) Auxiliary driving lamps may be used with headlamps as specified by Section 547.333.


Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.

Sec. 547.332. OTHER LAMPS PERMITTED. A motor vehicle may be equipped with:
(1) not more than two side cowl or fender lamps that emit an amber or white light without glare;
(2) not more than two running board courtesy lamps, one on each side of the vehicle, that emit an amber or white light without glare; and
(3) one or more backup lamps that:
(A) emit an amber or white light only when the vehicle is not moving forward; and
(B) may be displayed separately or in combination with another lamp.


Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.

Red light is a no no unless it is a designated Emergency Response Vehicle per Texas Transportation Rules. You can't tell what color our lights are on our ER vehicles unless the lightbars and strobes are on.

Light Bars are trash.

Light bars are just great if you actually drive off-road at night. They can be very helpful in seeing the terrain. I like my led spotlights for going out on the beach and avoiding debris and seeing the sand contours better.

My array of ****ty Hellas sure does make stringing up the hammock easy in the dark.